Ok boyos, A turn of events has taken place where I will be on the coast every weekend for the foreseeable future. Until such a time as that changes, I need to know what you mullets know about fishing Galveston, Texas City Dike, and Rollover. So far I've only managed to wet a hook on the 61st street pier. Caught some hardheads was about it. Where would we the best place to maybe get into some trout, reds, or flounder in those areas.

Dont have a boat yet, That could change also. Will have to see what the future holds. So everything will be from the shore, dikes, jetties, and piers.

Are you willing to wade fish?

Didnt really want to.

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2818749/1#discussion

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2857318

I keep these bookmarked though I still haven't fished like I thought I would!

DayAg! said:

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Didnt really want to.

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Oh no, that is the wrong answer!

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Are you willing to wade fish?

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are you willing to get stung by jellyfish, hit by stingrays, chased by rattlesnakes, and possibly bit by a shark once you actually catch a fish and put it on your stringer?

That's what I like about this board always quick with the encouragement.

Uncle Gunnysack said:

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ttha_aggie_09 said:

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Are you willing to wade fish?

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are you willing to get stung by jellyfish, hit by stingrays, chased by rattlesnakes, and possibly bit by a shark once you actually catch a fish and put it on your stringer?

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I wear pants when I wade = no jellyfish stings
Never been tagged by a ray
Been chased by a gulf marsh snake and then caught him
Have been bumped by a couple of sharks going after my stringer... also have had some trout bit in half off the stringer. Doesn't scare me anymore. Swimming in the surf is scarier to me.

Fished Rollover and the ferry landing cove Friday morning with no luck. The surf was trashed from all the storms in the gulf. First chance to fish in about 2 months and it sucked!

Seawolf Park has a pier and other areas to fish. Fish the pier at night with live shrimp and you should catch something.

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/fishbites-long-lasting-ez-shrimp

This stuff is pretty easy and seems to work. There are several different kinds to try.

Guess I'm the exception but I'm about done with fishbites. I've been through 2 packages of the real ones and one package of the knockoff ones (that they sell at seven seas grocery) and I don't think I've caught a thing on them yet. With pieces of dead shrimp I at least catch hardheads one after another and a croaker or whiting once in a while. It is a lot of fun getting all that goo on your hands when you're trying to sneak the fishbite past the barb when you're done for the day. So there's that.

Are you using the precut ones or the long strips? What kind of hook?

I use the long strips like bobcat linked. Cut a 1-2 inch long peice off with scissors, then cut in half at an angle. I tried the precut triangle ones once and they were no where near as good.

At the end of the day the cheesecloth remains (and whatever gum is left) are easy to cut off the hooks with scissors.

When we get on a hot bite (usually low tide), I'll skip the shrimp because it just slows things down, and that window is usually only 15-20 minutes. I haven't really noticed a drop off in bites when the fish are aggressively feeding.

I use the strips, cut into triangles about 1" on the long side. Pink crab flavor and white shrimp flavor, and yellow (don't remeber what flavor). Have tried those long shank bait hooks in two sizes, kahles, small circle hooks...I may just suck at fishing

wait...you're using fishbites plus shrimp, then when the bite gets hot you skip the shrimp and just use fishbites?

NRD09 said:

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wait...you're using fishbites plus shrimp, then when the bite gets hot you skip the shrimp and just use fishbites?

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Yes. Peeling, cutting, and rebaiting hooks with shrimp is slow compared to catch 3 or 4 fish on a single peice of fishbites that requires no change out.


I also deploy fishbites with no shrimp as soon as I set up in a spot to try and get some fresh bait for big rods (hopefully cut whiting). I don't like to lead with shrimp for two reasons.
1. I'm preoccupied rigging up other rods and setting more pole holders. I want a durable bait that can catch fish without much attention.
2. I may not need the shrimp... It's about 50/50 odds that I'll put out fishbites on two rods while I rig the rest and have to stop in the middle of rigging to reel in a fish. If it's whiting or croaker I'll save my shrimp until I'm not getting any more bites. If it's all hardheads I may move after I rig up the rest of my rods.

Interesting...thanks!

north jetties on bolivar, or surf fishing. Forget Rollover.

woodyhayes said:

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north jetties on bolivar, or surf fishing. Forget Rollover.

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Surf was absolutely trashed this weekend from the storm in the gulf. I wanted to fish the surf

Seems relevant...

Damn AgEng.

So Fishbites and Rollover is a no-go. I was kinda leaning towards Texas City Dike. Good current in there. Can be fishing in 20 minutes from where I'll be.

Salt of the water said:

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NRD09 said:

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wait...you're using fishbites plus shrimp, then when the bite gets hot you skip the shrimp and just use fishbites?

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Yes. Peeling, cutting, and rebaiting hooks with shrimp is slow compared to catch 3 or 4 fish on a single peice of fishbites that requires no change out.


I also deploy fishbites with no shrimp as soon as I set up in a spot to try and get some fresh bait for big rods (hopefully cut whiting). I don't like to lead with shrimp for two reasons.
1. I'm preoccupied rigging up other rods and setting more pole holders. I want a durable bait that can catch fish without much attention.
2. I may not need the shrimp... It's about 50/50 odds that I'll put out fishbites on two rods while I rig the rest and have to stop in the middle of rigging to reel in a fish. If it's whiting or croaker I'll save my shrimp until I'm not getting any more bites. If it's all hardheads I may move after I rig up the rest of my rods.

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Salt - why do you peel the shrimp? Seems like leaving the shell in place helps hold them on the hook.

You don't call it the coast if you live here.

Fishbite/shrimp combos are popular with the surf guys for pompano down Corpus way.

There was a day that I was getting bites but no hookups with unpeeled shrimp prices. Tried peeling some and got hooked up. Been peeling them ever since. Maybe it's not needed but it's a habit now because that's what I have confidence in.

Salt of the water said:

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There was a day that I was getting bites but no hookups with unpeeled shrimp prices. Tried peeling some and got hooked up. Been peeling them ever since. Maybe it's not needed but it's a habit now because that's what I have confidence in.

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OK, I was just curious if there was a "method to the madness".

Dike, TX City lake on north side, and Seawolf park - have fun & report back.

any updates DayAg?

so I tried fishbites plus shrimp pieces saturday morning and put a hurting on the whiting and croaker, then ran out of shrimp and they kept going crazy on just fishbites. Like, they were tearing it up before my sinker hit the sand. So they may have just been really hungry but I guess i will keep a packet of fishbites in the quiver. Thanks Salt!

Try the 61st pier again on when the wind is calm and the water is clear.

Don't go far out (like I mean like as close to the door onto the pier as possible) and throw live shrimp.

Catching them is the easy part. Getting them up onto the pier is where it gets fun. I've caught ice chests full of trout free lining shrimp off that pier.

Now it's time for some fried fish sandwiches.

Ok, so here's the update. Been doing mostly recon on places to go. So far I've fished, 61st street pier, Texas City dike and the little park coming into Galveston on the right by the bait shops. So far I've scouted Surfside jetty, Seawolf park and San Luis.

This last week stopped at those same bait shops coming into town and they said the freshwater killed all the shrimp and they didnt have any live shrimp. Dont know how true that is , but it did rain all weekend.

I've yet to catch any Trout,or Redfish, mostly Hardheads but the asian guys on Surfside Jetty had some nice ice chests full of trout and ribbon fish. I been using mostly squid and dead shrimp for bait. May be the problem. The guys seem to do fairly well using lights on Texas City and Seawolf. I think once I get moved down there I'll invest in some of those for night fishing. I havent been fishing real hard just mostly scouting around and trying here and there. Did wade a bit at Mosquito Island off Texas city dike but didnt stay long. Havent made Rollover just yet but got plans for there in the future.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Doesnt really matter right now how much I catch. The thing is, I've fished freshwater all my life and this saltwater is a whole different animal. So I'm having a blast seeing everything for the first time just takin it all in. Best thing is I have a good guide who lives in Dickinson and been fishing all her life. So I got that going for me.

Anyway , thanks again for all the suggestions and yes, those fishbites are fun to try and get off at the end of the day.

Fishbites! Absolutely, no question that Fishbites with almost anything are The Way To Go, especially in the surf. From Rockport and No One, not a soul would fish PINS without Fishbites. Caught nearly every species of fish in the surf with dead shrimp and Fishbites. As stated, caught fish just on Fishbites alone. It is incredible what these things do, as a follow up to one comment, be sure and take a SHARP knife to get the fiber core that is in them off your hooks, dunno what that stuff is but it is plenty Tough!!!

Even in Fly Fishing we will sometimes tip our flies with a small piece of Fishbite, work Good!

If you wanna catch fish, come on down to PINS and fish the surf. With 4wd go to at least the 20 mile marker and give it a shot. Go by and see Nick Meyer at Breakaway Tackle in Corpus and pick up some surf casting rigs, and perhaps the rod and reel you will need. Take lawn chairs, beer, water and cigars and sit back and have a blast catching fish, or not (that is what the beer is for).

Wanted to bump this and get an update from the OP. I'm kinda in the same place now and learning as I go. Unfortunately ive only gone surf fishing a couple of times. Planning on checking out seawolf Park Friday night. This is a naive question but do you use a popping cork with fishbite or it it for live shrimp only? Also should I bring my 10' to chunk some cut bait with ?

Build It said:

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You don't call it the coast if you live here.

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THIS!

Buncha yankee ****s!